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Local Service based business? FB ads seem to work!

Marketing, social media, advertising

Plank

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Though I have plenty of work lined up, the weather locally has put me in a holding pattern due to Local Masons not being able to work in freezing and or rainy conditions..

When Masons can't get the foundations in, it puts every other tradesman behind schedule.
Though I keep a little extra funds squirreled away to keep my guys on the clock during these down times. I have been reading on the forums a lot about marketing and advertising etc.

Figured I'd give Facebook a go..
I spent 20.00 for a 24 hr post boost
I chose my city and surrounding areas for targeting and clicked boost post now.

Barely a few hours in a got in touch with a guy about 30 minutes away with a foundation ready to go and some no-show framers..
Over the phone our prices are adding up, and I'll meet with him tomorrow. If everything looks good we'll start Tuesday.

This is my first time advertising anything at all ever, I usually just post photos to business page.. so maybe these results aren't common?

20 bucks for a new customer and a foundation waiting is nothing short of awesome imo..

uRa0vs.jpg


wZFVdr.jpg
 
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Kristie

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Though I have plenty of work lined up, the weather locally has put me in a holding pattern due to Local Masons not being able to work in freezing and or rainy conditions..

When Masons can't get the foundations in, it puts every other tradesman behind schedule.
Though I keep a little extra funds squirreled away to keep my guys on the clock during these down times. I have been reading on the forums a lot about marketing and advertising etc.

Figured I'd give Facebook a go..
I spent 20.00 for a 24 hr post boost
I chose my city and surrounding areas for targeting and clicked boost post now.

Barely a few hours in a got in touch with a guy about 30 minutes away with a foundation ready to go and some no-show framers..
Over the phone our prices are adding up, and I'll meet with him tomorrow. If everything looks good we'll start Tuesday.

This is my first time advertising anything at all ever, I usually just post photos to business page.. so maybe these results aren't common?

20 bucks for a new customer and a foundation waiting is nothing short of awesome imo..

uRa0vs.jpg


wZFVdr.jpg
Cool...very cool. Congrats. I haven't tried FB. I am a bookkeeper/tax preparer. I've gone back and forth on offering a free month of bookkeeping, but am so afraid that I will end up with bad clients (sorry to sound negative, but if you have been in this line of work, you likely know exactly what I mean). I do get a few leads from Craigs List believe it or not but nothing concrete.
 

Plank

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Cool...very cool. Congrats. I haven't tried FB. I am a bookkeeper/tax preparer. I've gone back and forth on offering a free month of bookkeeping, but am so afraid that I will end up with bad clients (sorry to sound negative, but if you have been in this line of work, you likely know exactly what I mean). I do get a few leads from Craigs List believe it or not but nothing concrete.
That's awesome... I'm sure you'll get some folks..
If you don't mind me asking how does bookkeeping tax preparing work? Is it a monthly service or more like a quarterly/ yearly thing etc.
I'm in the process of getting my gc license and forming an LLC, did 300,000 last year and it's time to expand and get myself squared away so I'll be looking for one myself.
What should I look for price wise? and what's the process for a newbie like me to be able to easily use a service like yours?
Right now I use quick books and year end is a rat run headache when I grow even bigger I can only imagine ..
 

Plank

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Is the $300,000 what you brought in or what you made? Just curious.
No.. that's before payroll, insurance, tools etc.
That's just the heavy number a guy like me.. hourly working Carpenter 2 years ago, never had to deal with before.. not my actual profit, hell after deductions I technically lost money, but I have some great tools, and equipment to show for it..
I plan to eventually do more than that in profits on the gc. The framing business was/is a stepping stone for me to
Create loyal teamates/employees
Get my name known
Jump into business headfirst without a paddle and learn the ins and outs of the business side.

End goal= general contractor hiring subs to do the work and using my team to manage it all.
Eventually getting to a point where I can back away and still make money while pursuing other ventures.
 

Kristie

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That's awesome... I'm sure you'll get some folks..
If you don't mind me asking how does bookkeeping tax preparing work? Is it a monthly service or more like a quarterly/ yearly thing etc.
I'm in the process of getting my gc license and forming an LLC, did 300,000 last year and it's time to expand and get myself squared away so I'll be looking for one myself.
What should I look for price wise? and what's the process for a newbie like me to be able to easily use a service like yours?
Right now I use quick books and year end is a rat run headache when I grow even bigger I can only imagine ..

Thank you! I know I will make it...We are here living small to ensure it. Lol. I just realized you are in Tennessee. I just moved back to my hometown Bridgeport on the Alabama/Tennessee line. How cool is that?!
The way the bookkeeping works is normally clients give me check stubs, bank statements, credit card statements (if any) and I enter and reconcile each account in QuickBooks...you already have QB I see. That is great and will save you some money since I assume you are entering all the deposits and transactions and reconciling every month. In that case, I or another bookkeeper would take your QB file and make any necessary changes as often as agreed. Some companies like to get a financial statement monthly, quarterly and/or yearly. This would be something you would need to decide at some point. It is all personal preference though. Financial Statements are not required unless you are part of something that does require it. I have some clients I do monthly work for and some are annually. I have some I just do payroll for. It really just depends on how often you want your books closed and adjusted in order to see where you stand for the end of a period. Yes! It can be a rat race. I have several I have to close at year end and get ready for the accountant. It gets pretty crazy. Then, when all that is done...there are tax classes. Lol.
Plus, that GC license will have an annual renewal. I am not sure about Tennessee, but could find out and help with that process once the time comes. I have assisted clients pull all that information for years in my home state. You just under absolutely no circumstances let this be late or they will likely close your license and you have to start all over again. Even bigger pain as I am sure you already know. I mean a person doesn't want to give another kidney to the contractor board if they mess up and are late with the renewal.
Finally...price...Well, price really depends on the accountant you choose. Normally, bookkeepers work cheaper because ethically they have too and don't have the same level of education as a CPA. I still help my retired bosses partner each year. He is out of Birmingham, Alabama. He told me that he charges $500.00 to start for a business return. I sometimes commune with another firm of several CPAs out of Birmingham as well and they told me that $500 was their starting point for business tax returns as well. Since, Tennessee doesn't have a state tax, the CPAs there local to you may be cheaper since there would only be a federal LLC return. At present, I do not do business returns except for sole proprietor Schedule Cs. I have not decided if I might down the road. Currently, I only do individual tax returns. But, if you need a CPA, I work with Mark Goolsby in Birmingham, Alabama and have known him for almost 16 years.
For the annual contractors license, the accountant I do some work for (Mark Goolsby) charges $300, I believe. I do not normally charge my client for what I do to help her get the information together each year. Some folks probably do, but I don't nickel and dime people.
Whew! Sorry, this post is so long!
For myself as a bookkeeper, I hate giving hourly rates...they can be scary to people. I use what is called 'value pricing'. Basically, I guesstimate the cost for one month of work, do the work for 3 months in order to determine if I need to go down on the price, go up or keep it he same. After that, the price stays the same month to month (or year to year) for those services. Generally, it only changes if a service is added or taken away. If you have everything entered in QB already, it would only be a matter of reviewing the file and getting it in sync with the tax return and making any adjustments. If your accountant has already done this for 2017, it would only be the 2018 that would need review. For an entire year, depending on what all in entailed, it would likely be anywhere from $500 to $1000. Often times, it is hard to give a firm price on this type of work because there are so many variables.
Whether you ever ask me for help or not...feel free to visit my website and sign up for the free newsletter. There are also loads of archived newsletters broken down in categories. My website is www.payrollbooksandtax.com. Please, let me know if I can help further.
 
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minivanman

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I'm far from a book keeper but trust me when I say, it will cost more if you wait until the end and have someone enter all of your receipts at that time. lol That was a lesson from several years ago I learned. If you can take the few minutes it takes every day to do it, it is worth it.
 

Kristie

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I'm far from a book keeper but trust me when I say, it will cost more if you wait until the end and have someone enter all of your receipts at that time. lol That was a lesson from several years ago I learned. If you can take the few minutes it takes every day to do it, it is worth it.

That can definitely be true also. The CPA I work with doesn't charge an extra fee for having to expedite as far as I know and neither do I, but I know there are a lot who do. The price I gave was an average of what I charge for an entire year of work. Most CPAs/accountants would charge more depending on if they have to do the work themselves or if they have another bookkeeper doing the most time consuming part. The CPA I worked for so many years charged a higher hourly rate for what he did personally and a lower hourly rate for what the bookkeepers did.
 

Plank

That's not sawdust.. it's Man Glitter
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
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Jul 20, 2016
30
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42
Tennesse
Thank you! I know I will make it...We are here living small to ensure it. Lol. I just realized you are in Tennessee. I just moved back to my hometown Bridgeport on the Alabama/Tennessee line. How cool is that?!
The way the bookkeeping works is normally clients give me check stubs, bank statements, credit card statements (if any) and I enter and reconcile each account in QuickBooks...you already have QB I see. That is great and will save you some money since I assume you are entering all the deposits and transactions and reconciling every month. In that case, I or another bookkeeper would take your QB file and make any necessary changes as often as agreed. Some companies like to get a financial statement monthly, quarterly and/or yearly. This would be something you would need to decide at some point. It is all personal preference though. Financial Statements are not required unless you are part of something that does require it. I have some clients I do monthly work for and some are annually. I have some I just do payroll for. It really just depends on how often you want your books closed and adjusted in order to see where you stand for the end of a period. Yes! It can be a rat race. I have several I have to close at year end and get ready for the accountant. It gets pretty crazy. Then, when all that is done...there are tax classes. Lol.
Plus, that GC license will have an annual renewal. I am not sure about Tennessee, but could find out and help with that process once the time comes. I have assisted clients pull all that information for years in my home state. You just under absolutely no circumstances let this be late or they will likely close your license and you have to start all over again. Even bigger pain as I am sure you already know. I mean a person doesn't want to give another kidney to the contractor board if they mess up and are late with the renewal.
Finally...price...Well, price really depends on the accountant you choose. Normally, bookkeepers work cheaper because ethically they have too and don't have the same level of education as a CPA. I still help my retired bosses partner each year. He is out of Birmingham, Alabama. He told me that he charges $500.00 to start for a business return. I sometimes commune with another firm of several CPAs out of Birmingham as well and they told me that $500 was their starting point for business tax returns as well. Since, Tennessee doesn't have a state tax, the CPAs there local to you may be cheaper since there would only be a federal LLC return. At present, I do not do business returns except for sole proprietor Schedule Cs. I have not decided if I might down the road. Currently, I only do individual tax returns. But, if you need a CPA, I work with Mark Goolsby in Birmingham, Alabama and have known him for almost 16 years.
For the annual contractors license, the accountant I do some work for (Mark Goolsby) charges $300, I believe. I do not normally charge my client for what I do to help her get the information together each year. Some folks probably do, but I don't nickel and dime people.
Whew! Sorry, this post is so long!
For myself as a bookkeeper, I hate giving hourly rates...they can be scary to people. I use what is called 'value pricing'. Basically, I guesstimate the cost for one month of work, do the work for 3 months in order to determine if I need to go down on the price, go up or keep it he same. After that, the price stays the same month to month (or year to year) for those services. Generally, it only changes if a service is added or taken away. If you have everything entered in QB already, it would only be a matter of reviewing the file and getting it in sync with the tax return and making any adjustments. If your accountant has already done this for 2017, it would only be the 2018 that would need review. For an entire year, depending on what all in entailed, it would likely be anywhere from $500 to $1000. Often times, it is hard to give a firm price on this type of work because there are so many variables.
Whether you ever ask me for help or not...feel free to visit my website and sign up for the free newsletter. There are also loads of archived newsletters broken down in categories. My website is www.payrollbooksandtax.com. Please, let me know if I can help further.

Thanks for the reply, cpa/bookkeeping services will be definitely on the agenda when I break away from the sole proprietorship and move to the LLC thanks for the explanation..
 
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Kristie

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Thanks for the reply, cpa/bookkeeping services will be definitely on the agenda when I break away from the sole proprietorship and move to the LLC thanks for the explanation..

Not a problem..Best wishes to you. I look forward to hearing how everything works out.
 

Plank

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Back on topic, the Facebook ad got me another hit aswell.

This guy was a guy I tried to get in with a couple years ago when I first started out, and it never went anywhere, probably because I had no references or proof etc. Which I have in spades now!
He's a fairly big developer locally so landing his work could be big.

Anyways my wife sells heavy equipment "she has sold a few peices to him" when he saw my ad and put 2&2 together it clicked and I just got off the phone..

I'll meet up with him tomorrow.

So for a 20.00 Facebook add I landed one that we start tomorrow, and meeting another to possibly get in on a ton of work.

This isn't including the work I already have, this will just allow me to grow and hopefully begin to start hiring subs to do what I can't with me acting as oversight for now..

Not bad for 20 bucks
hJDZYH.jpg
 

Kristie

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Back on topic, the Facebook ad got me another hit aswell.

This guy was a guy I tried to get in with a couple years ago when I first started out, and it never went anywhere, probably because I had no references or proof etc. Which I have in spades now!
He's a fairly big developer locally so landing his work could be big.

Anyways my wife sells heavy equipment "she has sold a few peices to him" when he saw my ad and put 2&2 together it clicked and I just got off the phone..

I'll meet up with him tomorrow.

So for a 20.00 Facebook add I landed one that we start tomorrow, and meeting another to possibly get in on a ton of work.

This isn't including the work I already have, this will just allow me to grow and hopefully begin to start hiring subs to do what I can't with me acting as oversight for now..

Not bad for 20 bucks
hJDZYH.jpg

Wow. That is great! Congratulations! Even though the boost/ad was only good for 25 hours you still could have others contact you, as it sounds like this man just didn't contact you right away or at least during the 24 hour period. I am happy for you. I've never used FB. Not sure if it would help me, but I suppose you thought the same thing and look at you.
 
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RazorCut

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I've never used FB. Not sure if it would help me, but I suppose you thought the same thing and look at you.

I think FB and/or Linkedin would be ideal for your business. It can be very cost effective marketing. Certainly worth investing a small amount of money to experiment with.

-
 

Andy Black

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Time to man up and own your P&L and your balance sheet.
Quit the 'it's hard' bullshit and be a business owner instead of a framer who loses money.

I grew up in the business. Quit making excuses and learn how to be profitable.

Those that did lived well in a big house. Those that didn't we had to bail out of jail to get a job finished so we could make a draw.

Why work so hard to piss it away because 'books are hard'?! Two weekends and a decent accountant and you'll know more than most.
 
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Kristie

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I think FB and/or Linkedin would be ideal for your business. It can be very cost effective marketing. Certainly worth investing a small amount of money to experiment with.

-
Thank you. I have never known anyone personally who used Linked In. Have you ever used it? I have no idea of the cost, etc.
 

Kristie

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Test it? : )

I am honestly thinking about it. I am probably going to look at the analytics and see which day of the week and times of the day people see my posts and possibly launch something during that time and try to target the same audience. An hour is not long, so timing has to matter. Thank you!
 

Plank

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Time to man up and own your P&L and your balance sheet.
Quit the 'it's hard' bullshit and be a business owner instead of a framer who loses money.

I grew up in the business. Quit making excuses and learn how to be profitable.

Those that did lived well in a big house. Those that didn't we had to bail out of jail to get a job finished so we could make a draw.

Why work so hard to piss it away because 'books are hard'?! Two weekends and a decent accountant and you'll know more than most.

No doubt, I do mine myself for now through quick books "Super easy" but I plan to get help from a pro as I expand into general contracting this year one cpa is tax deductible anyway so might as well..
 
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